Alexander, Prince von Solms Braunfels studied at the Agricultural University in Wien (Vienna) and then began a military career, serving as a Colonel in the Royal and Imperial Army during World War I. He also served as a Privy Councillor and Chamberlain to the Emperor. Prince von Solms Braunfels was a pioneer of ballooning, making his first flight in 1881, was a patron of a shooting organization in Baden (1900-13), and was part of a group that built a Sport Palace in Baden. He was President of the Austrian Automobile Club (1903-09), was a member of the Austrian Jockey Club from 1878, becoming Vice-President in 1910, and later President. In 1899 he was on a committee that secured Austrian participation at the 1900 Olympics, and was then co-opted onto the IOC in June 1905. He never attended an IOC Session during his tenure and was known as a troublemaker, frequently writing Pierre de Coubertin about Bohemia, and how they should not have an IOC Member as they were only a part of Austro-Hungary. He threatened resignation from the IOC if his demands to oust Bohemian member Jiří Guth-Jarkovský were not met, and he finally resigned in May 1909.
Austria